


Stuck at Home

by DrMarthaJones



Category: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-11 21:33:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15324810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrMarthaJones/pseuds/DrMarthaJones
Summary: Set after Infinity War and before Spider-Man Far From Home, Peter and Aunt May fight over the fact that they can’t afford Peter’s Senior trip to Europe, and Peter learns how much May is willing to sacrifice to make him happy





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I was a bit disappointed that it doesn’t sound like Aunt May will have much of a place in the next Spider-Man movie, and this idea popped into my head as a way to include her. I also wanted to see what life would be like for May and Peter after he returns from the dead, and those two ideas mashed into this. Enjoy!

Peter stormed into the apartment and slammed the door behind him so hard the entire wall shook, and he could hear shoes falling off the shoe racks. He didn’t even bother to turn around, he was so frustrated. He stomped into the kitchen and started grumpily looking through the cupboards for something to eat, huffing and puffing as he did so. He just wanted to grab a bite, grab the Spiderman suit and jump out the window. And put the news he got at school out of his mind.

“Peter?” Aunt May said from behind him. He turned, a little embarrassed at being caught having a bit of a tantrum, to see May putting down her work bag, her eyes concerned behind her round glasses. “What’s wrong, honey?”

Peter was so disappointed, all he could manage at first was a groan. May sighed, worry creasing her brow – the way it always did nowadays – and came to rub his shoulders. Peter let his head fall forward onto her shoulder and sighed.

Aunt May rubbed her hand up and down his back, and he started to feel a little better, even though he knew nothing had changed. Until –

“Did you just get home? Why so late? You weren’t spiderman-ing were you, because you know you have to text me –”

Not this again. In his already frustrated state this old fight made Peter burst with anger, and he jerked away from May and slammed himself down at the kitchen table.

“Yeah, I know, I know okay, it’s not like you remind me every day. And I was at Academic Decathlon training – is that allowed? Or are you worried the sound of the bell is going to pierce my eardrums or something?” Peter said. He knew he sounded like an ass as he was saying it, but May had been breathing down his neck ever since ‘the incident’, as they had taken to calling it, and he wanted her to just back off. She was constantly questioning his whereabouts and his answers never seemed to satisfy her; she’d yelled at him more in the past few months than she had in his whole life: every time she saw Spiderman on the news, whenever he forgot to check in with her after coming home late, once because he’d walked into the kitchen table and yelled in pain, and hadn’t immediately announced that he was fine.

“Okay, harsh,” May said, coming up and stroking his hair. Peter jerked his head away until she removed her hand. Instead she leant against the table.

“So, what happened?”

Peter groaned again and put his head in his propped-up hands.

“The Senior trip is off. I can’t go.”

“What do you mean?”

Peter sighed. “It’s too expensive.”

“Peter, what do you mean, I already have it all saved –”

“No, you have the subsidized amount saved. You know how all the kids who are getting the subsidized price are being funded by donations from other parents, but mostly one anonymous donor from a few years ago?”

“Uh huh.”

“Well, apparently they just found out that the donor was Liz’s dad.”

May gasped and put her hand to her mouth.

“And I’m the genius who put him in jail. Apparently the police have been tracing where all his money went. Obviously, they can’t use the money now, or maybe the police took it, I don’t know. So now everybody has to pay the full amount.”

May was quiet for a very long time, while Peter stared at the kitchen table, getting angry all over again. Angry at the situation, angry because he missed Liz, angry at Spiderman.

Finally, May spoke. “How much is the full amount?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Peter, come on, how much is the full amount?”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s too much.”

“Come on, this trip is a big deal, and I already have some of it saved – and you deserve it. How much?”

Peter started grinding his teeth, getting frustrated at May for not listening and dragging this out.

“May, it includes flights, accommodation, food, plus all the stuff we’re gonna do –”

“How much?” May said firmly.

“$2500.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Peter snapped. “Told you.”

“Peter, I’m sorry. I wish they’d given us more warning, I could have picked up more shifts…” She put her hand on his shoulder but pulled it back when he shook it off.

“Loads of kids must be missing out – what about Ned?”

“Ned’s grandparents are paying, he’s fine,” Peter said to the table.

“Do you know anyone else who’s not going?”

“Like, not well. This kid Dinesh I talk to in Math, but no one else really.”

May sighed again. “I’m sorry, honey.”

“You sure about that?” Peter said.

“What?”

“I thought you’d be thrilled. Admit it, you didn’t want me going on that trip anyway.” Peter pushed himself off the table and started restlessly looking through cupboards again, affecting disinterest, but he knew he was picking a fight. He knew it was childish, but he was so disappointed, and he knew May was secretly celebrating.

May was leaning against the table still, arms crossed, looking puzzled.

“Peter – what?”

“You can’t let me walk to the bus stop without needing 5 texts saying I’m still alive, you never wanted me to go to Europe. You’re glad, admit it.”

May’s eyes had gone wide. She bit her lip. “Alright, of course I was anxious about your trip, but I know how much you were looking forward to it. I won’t pretend I’m not glad I won’t lose you for three weeks, but –”

Peter slammed the cupboard door with too much force and it bounced back open with a bang! that made May jump. Peter’s stomach twisted uncomfortably, seeing that his actions could startle his steady aunt, but for some reason, hearing her admit that she actually was glad when he was so disappointed made him even madder – as if she could have foreseen or planned this.

“What are you gonna do when I go away to school next year – are you going to follow me around for the rest of my life? When are you gonna stop breathing down my neck and let me live my life? Were you even going to let me go on the trip?”

May was startled, he could tell, but the first thing she said, calmly, was “Peter, don’t slam the kitchen cabinets. And don’t take this out on me.” Peter shoved his hands into his pockets and scowled, because he knew she was right. May paused and chewed her lips. “But the last time you went on a field trip you were dead for the better part of a year. The time before that your classmates nearly died and you disappeared – and now that I know you were leaping off buildings and jumping down elevator shafts…” She shook her head and sighed. “And I can’t help but feel like being so hands-off before is what allowed all that to happen, so yes, I’m breathing down your neck. You’re mad, and I get that, but you don’t understand – you’re all I have left.”

“That’s not my fault!” Peter yelled. “So why does it have to be my problem?”

May was shocked at that. She just stood there, staring at him until Peter started to feel bad. She was feverishly twisting her wedding ring around her finger – he’d figured out long ago she did that when she was thinking of Ben, especially during situations like this, when the two of them would normally have ganged up on him.

“We’ve literally lost all the same people, May, so it’s not fair to act like I don’t know what it’s like –”

“But you don’t.” Her voice was shaking now and she looked a bit wild. “Peter, how can I make you understand that you are my baby, and nothing compares –”

“I wasn’t your baby when I was an actual baby, so why are you treating me like one now?”

May sighed and ran her hands through her hair. He’d made her mad, which used to be rare, but was easy nowadays. Peter was oddly satisfied to see her sinking to his level.

“You know what, yeah, I’m glad you’re not going. I’m thrilled. I don’t know what I was going to do for three weeks not knowing if you were safe,” May yelled. Peter rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, smirk at me all you want, but it is my job to keep you safe. I failed once before, and it was the worst thing that has ever happened –”

“Well, you don’t act like it! I mean, all you do ever since the incident is question me about where I’ve been and then yell at me about the answers! Seriously, you’d think you’d be a little more happy. I mean, if Mom walked through that door right now, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t spend all my time yelling at her. I’d be so glad.”

May turned away from him towards the door, as if hoping Mum might actually stroll into the apartment, dusting grave dirt off her clothes. When May said nothing and started chewing her lip again, Peter realized that maybe Mum wasn’t the best example to use when he was accusing her of being a bad parent.

“I mean, or Dad, or Ben,” Peter added, still trying to add that kick to his voice because he was still angry – still fuming. “And by the way, if they were here, I bet they’d all tell you to back off too. They’d be better parents than you’re being lately.”

He’d gone too far, and he knew it as the words were coming out of his mouth. He could suddenly hear what a jerk he was being. He regretted saying anything, he shouldn’t have picked this fight in the first place.

May’s face drained of colour immediately. Her eyes got big for a second before filling with tears – and the sight made Peter feel like he had been splashed with water, and all his anger drained away. He still wanted to go on the trip, and he was still upset she was glad he couldn’t, but he didn’t want to watch Aunt May cry again – he’d seen it too many times before, and it was one of the scariest sights he had ever witnessed.

“I – I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that –” Peter stammered.

May looked at the ceiling and blinked, her lips pressed tightly together. Oh, why would he say that?

“May, I’m sorry,” Peter said again, dread and guilt sinking into his stomach. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

May opened her mouth. She always forgave him when he did stupid things. Always. But then she closed her mouth again and shook her head slowly. The ring on her finger went round and round.

Peter felt like he’d been punched in the stomach.

Finally, May just whispered, “You think I don’t know that?” without looking up at him, staring into the corner of the kitchen instead.

“No, May, that’s not true, I don’t even know why I said that,” Peter pleaded.

May ignored him. “Look, I’m sorry about the trip, Peter. Can you fend for yourself tonight? I’m not very hungry,” she said, picking up her bag and already storming to her room. Peter heard the door slam.

He sank down into his chair and slammed his head against the table a few times. He felt so much worse than before. Leave it to him to always screw everything up. And after all the shit he put her through. He knew he was only mad about the trip. His whole body was aching with guilt, so he did the only thing that he knew would make him feel better, knowing full well that in an hour Aunt May was going to check his room and find it empty: he went to his room, grabbed the suit, opened the window and disappeared.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A week after their fight, May comes home with a surprise for Peter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, but here is chapter 2!

Peter was in the kitchen, with his Spanish book open in front of him, staring off into space. He slowly chewed his bottom lip – a habit he knew he picked up from Aunt May – and spun his pencil between his fingers. He thought, instead of conjugating verbs, of what he could say to May when she came home.

            It had been a week since their epic fight, and everything had been weird since. Not in an obvious way, but Peter could still feel it. Peter didn’t remember much about being disciplined by his parents: he had been so little after all, but he did remember being scolded and having toys taken away and being put in time-out. He had the impression that his dad had been a bit indulgent, his mom a bit strict, but mostly he remembered feeling like he generally got what he deserved. Uncle Ben had never let him get away with anything. When they fought, Peter had learned that his uncle expected a proper apology, and a genuine one at that: but Peter always got one in return as well. And there were always consequences: at the time, it had felt to Peter like Ben kept his phone more often than he had it himself.

            But May had always been different. They had an understanding. From stories, it sounded like May had been the wildest out of all of them when she was his age, and maybe that was why, but she seemed to understand that sometimes he just said things he didn’t mean, that sometimes families fight, and they could all move on with no hassle. So it had been last week, at breakfast the morning after their fight. When Peter apologized, as genuinely as he could, for everything he had said, May had nodded and said she understood. When he’d hugged her, she’d squeezed him back. Since then, she hadn’t mentioned the fight at all.

            Peter had tried to make nice. He hadn’t donned the Spiderman suit all week; his absence had been noted on the local news, so he knew she knew he wasn’t keeping anything from her. He told her dumb stories from school over dinner, he even invited Ned round and subjected him to her cooking. He left his door open or hung out in the living room in the evenings to try to spend time with her.         

            But something was definitely wrong. Aunt May didn’t express relief that he wasn’t Spiderman-ning, she didn’t ask him about it, she didn’t mention it at all. She was unusually quiet at dinner. Yesterday evening she had been home from work unusually late, and she had gone straight to her room and closed the door. Peter figured she was still mad at him, and knew she had every right to be, but it still sucked.

            Peter didn’t dare bring up the school trip, but that still sucked too. The deadline to buy tickets had been today after school, and at lunch there was a meeting for everyone going. The only Seniors in the cafeteria had been Peter and 3 other kids, who, it turned out, Dinesh was better friends with, so Peter had been alone. Ned and MJ were careful not to talk about it in front of him, and after two days, the other decathlon kids had shamed even Flash into shutting up about it. And since the fight, Peter felt incredibly guilty whenever he wished he could go, so he preferred to push it out of his mind entirely.

            Behind him, the door opened and shut with a slam. Peter sat up straight as May breezed into the room, dropped her work bag, flung an envelope onto the table and declared, “Who’s the best aunt ever?”

            Peter looked at her like she’d gone mad. Her eyes were wide and bright behind her glasses and she bit her lip and stared at Peter in anticipation.

            “Um, you?” Peter guessed in confusion.

            May gestured to the envelope. “Well, open it.” Peter frowned and picked it up. May was practically buzzing. Peter opened the envelope, and a pile of papers with his school logo on it slid out, followed by two glossy plane tickets.

            It took Peter a moment to register what he was seeing. “Wait…what…are these…?” He stared at May in disbelief.

            “Yup. You’re going on that trip!”  May said.

            “But…how?”

            “I made it work.”

            Peter leapt up from the table and enveloped May in a bear hug – careful, as he always had to be nowadays, not to use his full strength. “Thank you! May – this is epic. Thank you!”

            Peter spun around to look at the tickets again, to see his name printed on them, to flip through the papers: packing lists, an itinerary, hotel addresses.

            “You seriously are the best aunt ever!” Peter said without looking up.

            May ran her hand down his back. “Are you happy?”

            Peter turned on her. “Are you kidding? I can’t even…thank you!”

            May smiled for the first time in a week. Peter felt her eyes stay on him as he turned back to the papers and started pouring over the itinerary. He pointed out bits to her; every stop seemed more exciting than the last. Finally, May interrupted his excitement to say, “You hungry? I’ll start dinner.”

            “I’ll help!” Peter cried, suddenly overflowing with filial gratitude. May gave him a look – he’d never once offered to help with dinner – and chuckled. “Alright, then, turn the oven on.”

            Soon they were chatting over a pot of boiling pasta, while May stirred the Bolognese sauce and Peter chopped salad ingredients (badly). Store-bought garlic bread was heating in the oven, making the kitchen smell like home. Peter couldn’t stop talking about all the places he would visit, and May interrupted with stories of her own crazy, youthful adventures. If Peter had stopped thinking about the trip for a second, he would have been glad to realise that everything had returned to normal.

            That was, until May told him to set the table, and as he was getting the plates down, she reached past him to grab a bowl for the salad, and her left hand passed his face. On its way back down, clasping the salad bowl, Peter noticed something wrong.

            “Where’s your wedding ring?” he asked, before his brain had fully registered what was missing.

            May put the salad bowl on the counter and clasped her left hand in her right, hiding her fingers from view.

            “Never mind.”

            Peter felt like lead was dripping into his stomach. May was stirring the spaghetti sauce and avoiding his eye.

            “May, where’s your wedding ring?”

            “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

            “Oh my god,” Peter breathed, as he realized what had happened. “May, why would you do that?”

            “Peter, I said it’s fine,” she snapped.

            “Where did you sell it, I bet we can get it back still –” Peter marched to the table, picked up the envelope and started shoving papers back inside.

            “No, I don’t want to,” May said quickly.

            “Why would you do that? Why would you sell it? May!”

            “Peter, I know what I’m doing,” May said. She took the envelope out of his hands and took the tickets back out. Peter tried to snatch it back. “This is my choice, Peter, I know what I’m doing.”

            “I shouldn’t have said anything,” Peter said, really starting to freak out now. His throat was hurting, his chest started to constrict, his stomach was in knots. He was such a spoiled brat! He had behaved like such a baby and now look at what he’d made her do! Both her wedding ring and the diamond engagement ring it held in place were gone. “I’m sorry, May! I’m sorry, I don’t want to go like this.”

            “Peter, just hear me out, please,” May said sharply, and her tone made Peter shut up and listened.

May sighed, collecting her thoughts, absently rubbing at the empty place on her ring finger. “I’ve been thinking about taking it off for awhile now,” she said slowly. Peter frowned.

            “Really?”

            May nodded. She spoke to the kitchen table, not to him. “My friends, my mom, have all been trying to convince me. I mean, it’s been four years, Peter. And I was really starting to worry I would never be able to take it off.”

            “Why do you have to?” Peter said, a bit petulantly, but she looked at him, and they both knew why. She had her whole life ahead of her.

            “And after…we fought last week –” Peter looked guiltily away. “…I was thinking about how Ben would want you to go on this trip as much as I do, and…and if he were here, and we still had two incomes, this wouldn’t have been an issue at all.”

            “No, May, I was completely out of line last week – I was upset, and I acted like an absolute asshole.”

            May was shaking her head again. “I know, Peter, but still, it would kill Ben –” she stumbled over her poor choice of words – “to think you couldn’t go, after all your hard work at school. And I was thinking, and,” she held up her bare left hand, “Ben bought these rings, so, it’s like he’s sending you on this trip.”

            “But, I’m sure Ben wouldn’t want you to – I mean, he gave that ring to _you._ ”

            “Yes, and the two of us made the choice together to take care of _you._ ” Peter shut his mouth with a snap at that. May gulped. “Listen, Peter. He was so proud of you. So proud of you.” Her eyes were filling with tears as she spoke; Peter could see her shaking a little bit, and it made his stomach flip over. “It kills me that he won’t get to see you graduate high school. But he sure as hell is going to send you on your Senior trip.” May choked over her words a bit, and Peter couldn’t help it, her words hit him and he started crying. Like, properly bawling: ‘head dropping, shoulders hunching, gripping the back of the kitchen chair’ crying. Of course, he had been thinking about how Ben wouldn’t be there when he walked across the stage in a few months. And now, with the ring, and May’s speech, it was too much. As soon he started crying, May started crying too, quietly, just tears rolling down her face, and that made Peter sob harder.

            “But…but it’s all you have left of him,” Peter sobbed.

            May actually chuckled at that, through her tears. “Peter, don’t be dramatic. Half the things in this apartment remind me of him. I have pictures. Hell – I have you! And we have our memories. Look, it doesn’t change how much Ben loved me, whether I wear the rings or not.”

            Peter coughed and wiped his face on his arm, though his tears weren’t going anywhere. “But…if you don’t want to wear it, do we have to sell it? Wouldn’t it still be better to keep it? What if…what if I want to propose to someone with it? Or give it to my daughter?” Aunt May was the only person other than Ned to whom he would ever admit thinking about these things.

            “I’ve kept your Mum’s ring for that.”

            “Well, what if I have two daughters?” Peter cried.

            “Oh, honey,” Aunt May finally came up and put her hands on his shoulders. “Listen…that’s so far in the future, and we don’t know…” she paused, licked her lips while she was collecting her thoughts. Peter finally found his sobs subsiding. “I mean, before Mum and Dad, I didn’t know anyone who died before old age. Then one morning I woke up and…their lives were over, and everything they had planned for the future was never going to happen. And Ben and I had so many plans before he…and then you, and the incident…” Here, she choked. “I thought you would never graduate, never get married and have kids…” She sniffed. “I’ve been conditioned to worry – to know – that all that might not happen.” Now Peter felt guilty for ever getting frustrated with her checking up on him. How could he have forgotten her perspective?

Thinking about that time seemed to have shaken her. She paused and gripped his shoulders more tightly. “Ben is not here anymore. But, by some miracle, the amazing kid I raised with him is. _You_ are here now. And Peter, I want you to enjoy the life you have _now_ , okay? Please go on the trip.”

            Peter looked at her for a second longer, before finally nodding, and then he was crying again. May finally folded him into a hug, which was exactly what he needed. He pressed his face into her shoulder and squeezed her as hard as he could – really as hard as he could, so that she chuckled and gasped, “Honey, I can’t breathe.”

            “Sorry,” he mumbled, and they both laughed.

            “Come on,” she said, giving his back a few hearty pats. “Can we be happy about your trip now?”

            “Yeah,” Peter said, but he didn’t let go quite yet. “Thank you,” he whispered. “You’re the best _mom_ ever, May.”

            At his words, he felt her melt, and couldn’t help but smile.

            Suddenly, a loud blaring cut through the kitchen – Peter jumped and got stuck to the ceiling, web shooters already at the ready. May was frozen, eyes darting around the kitchen. Peter became aware of the smell of burning. It was the fire alarm.

            “Oh my god, the garlic bread!” May cried.

           

 

           

**Author's Note:**

> I promise the “Comfort” part comes next chapter!


End file.
